Tuesday: 15th August: Weather: 19°C to 27°C: warm sunny day. Storms arrived after walk at 6.30pm
Cortina: 12.3k walk: 4hrs: 10.45am to 2.45pm: 1x 20 min stop: Ascent: 435m Descent 435
Day Walk: Lago Soropiss: Bus Cortina to Tre Croci: Walk to Lag Soropiss, return to Cortina
Accommodation: Hotel Nord Cortina
Looks lonely until the hordes arrive
Queues of hikers Passo Tre Croci
Dolomites from Passo Tre Croci walk
Ian up the ladders
Ian around teh cables
Beautiful blue Lago Soropiss
Coffee under shady tree at 27°C
Coffee at Lago Soropiss
Traffic jam on the cables
Highlight today was walking from Passo Tri Croci, about 30 minutes by bus from Cortina toe the Majestical Lago Sorapiss high in the dolomites. It’s a popolar walk - described as busy, and we encountered families with kids and dogs and all kinds of unfit tourists prepared to attempt to difficult walk with cables and ladders to Lago Sorapiss. An unforeseen highlight was that today was a holiday, so after waiting an hour for Line 1 bus from our Hotel Nord to Cortina Autostazione and again on the return journey after a 12k day, we added anoth 4k to our total. We later found out August 15th was Ferragosta, later called teh Assumption of Mary when the Catholic Church wanted in on the act.
We’re awak at 6am to another jetboied cup of tea. Thanks Ian for carrying the jetboil and gas. Thanks jan for carrying the tea, coffee, sugar, chocolate and powdered milk. We pack a day pack ready catch two buses out to Pocol to then walk to the Croda da Lago. Down to breakfast at 7.30am to a lovely spread of cakes, croissants, fruit meusli, yoghurt and coffee. Back to our room to pick up our day packs and out the door at 8.30 ready to catch the 8.52am Line 1 Bus into Cortina. 9am no bus. 9.15am still no bus and we’ve missed our 9.15am bus from Cortina out to Pocol to walk the Croda di Lago. We decide to walk down the old rail line built by the Austrians in 1915 in for WW1 into Cortina Autostazione to catch whatever bus we can.
At 9.45am we’re in Cortina and after checking the time tables, jump on the first bus available, the 10am towards Tre Cime, but we plan to get off 1/4 of the way up at Passso Tre Croci to walk to Lag Soropiss, another popular walk. The bus arrives at 10.30am, and we re-assemble our hiking poles which have been telescoped down for teh bus ruide. Except one of mine won’t budge. A quick trip to the Hotel Tre Croci, and the assistant at reception kindly loans us a pair of pliers to free up th pole in less than 10 seconds. We’ll have to bring some pliers in our pack, as it’s not the firts time it’s happened.
There’s no guessing which way to go on Track 215. We just follow the hoardes of people down the road and on to the wide old Military track built in WW1. It’s easy at first and the walkers are spread out, but as soon as the track becomes stony and root bound, the queues begin and people traffic jams slow everyone to a crawl. Hikers stopping to absorb and take photos of the amazing views along the way also slow the line. As do those with dogs in doggy back packs. But that’s what we’re here for and everyone is tolerant.
The jams become longer as we begin the start of the Via Ferrati section of iron ladders, rungs and cables, enabling hikers to skirt narrow and difficult sections. But the walk is worth it as we round teh last corner and Lago Soropiss comes into view. There’s already hundreds of hikers sitting on stony ledges or soaking up the sun on teh small beach at the end of the weirdly blue lake, discouloured by glacial waters. It's 27*C, and we’re looking for a shady spot to have coffee. Most shady places have been taken but we encroach on another couple who have found an ideal spot higher up under the shade of a pine tree. We ask if it’s OK to share their patch of shade. We didn’t really give them a choice, so after they nod, we park ourselves on teh shady ledge to have coffee, with apple strudel and jam tart rescued from breakfast.
It’s tempting to dangle our feet in the icy cold water, but the time slipped away and at 1.10pm, we decide to try for the 3pm bus at Passo Tre Croci, the same bus that we caught down from Tr Cime yesterday. The crouds have thinned on the way back, as most are still sunbathing by the lake, so apart from a few jams of people with dogs and kids, the going is quite easy. We make it back at five to three and teh bus arrives on time at 3.05pm.
It’s only a 25 minute trip back into Cortina, so there’s time to go shopping down to Conad’s or SPAR and return for the 4.34pm bus up the road to Hotel Nord. The SPAR supermarket has a large array of cheeses, breads and dried meats - and to Ian’s delight, cold beer. There’s no cold wine, so after I elect to have a 1 litre box of Italian Red, we also buy a 3kg pack of ice cubes. We’ve used this trick before, and it’s cheaper to put ice in the bath tub, than to pay 100 euro extra for a room with a refrigerator. We’re back at 4.10 to teh Auto tazione, and ruminate that we’d probably just missed the 4.04pm bus.
So we sit and wait, and wait for the 4.34pm bus. No bus. We wait for the 5.04pm bus. No bus. May be it’s just so busy that every bus is late. Twenty minutes later I go into the ticket office to ask what time the next Line 1 bus should arrive. No line 1 bus today, she said. No local buses today at all. On strike I ask? "It’s a hol-ee-day" she says in broken English. OK. That explains the no buses this morning. So we pack up our melting ice and warm beer, butter and cheese and head back up the old rail trail for the 2k walk to Hotel Nord, arriving just before 6pm. Normally I like to sort photos before beer o’clock, but tonight we head straight for the balcony for a beer. I put ice in my beer, followed by ice in my red wine from a box. Ian sips on a bottle of warm beer, putting the other two bottles in the ice pack which is in the waste bucket sitting in the bidet in the bathroom. All this while we’re on the balcony watching the storm clouds brew.
Dinner is salad, mayonnaise, ham, tomato, heavy German bread with a red wine on ice. We no sooner finish dinner than the rain comes tumbling down. Time to shower, wash the dust from our clothes and sort photos, blog amd look up what holiday it is today. It’s Ferragosta Day, originally set by the Emporer Augustus for his workers, but it seems teh day was hijacked by the Catholic church and renamed Assumption of Mary Day. Whatever the reason, for us it meant NO BUSES!
Waiting for bus from Passo Tre Croci
NO Cortina. Ian with bag of ice
Enjoying a beer after long day
One hour at hotel storm hits 6.30pm